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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053251">Spring Cleaning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains/pseuds/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains'>Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood &amp; Manga</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Edwin being Edwin, F/M, Fluff, Married Life, Memories, Mostly Actual Plot, Post-Canon, Rediscovery, With Just a Dash of 'What Plot?', essentially canon compliant</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:41:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,753</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24053251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains/pseuds/Pearl_Pilots_In_Chains</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ed finds a box of old letters while doing some spring cleaning, and things only get more entertaining from there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>66</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Spring Cleaning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was initially going to be written for Edwin/503 week.  Unfortunately, life happened (as it often does), and I wasn't able to finish it in time.  Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy this dose of Edwin silliness.</p><p>As usual, I apologize in advance for any typos and such.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ahhhh, seriously?!”The shout echoed from within the study.Instantly, Ed set down the box of books he was carrying and rushed back in.</p><p>“Raoul, are you okay?”Ed asked—essentially shouting—as he looked about the room, somewhat concerned.It didn’t take too long to locate the source of the shout.His son was crouching on the floor over a scattered pile of what appeared to be envelopes, a lopsided basket beside them.It became obvious that the adolescent had been attempting to take said basket down from the shelf it sat on, but had dropped it in the process.</p><p>Raoul looked up, irritation evident in his expression.“Yeah, I’m fine.Just made a mess,” he intoned grumpily.Ed strode over and looked over the ‘damage’ with his son.The teen looked back up at him.</p><p>“What even is all this stuff anyway?”</p><p>Ed lowered himself down and picked up one of the envelopes.If he were to be entirely honest, he wasn’t exactly sure what they were.He was certain he knew, he just couldn’t remember at the moment.As such, he chose a response that said next to nothing.“Letters.”</p><p>Raoul rolled his eyes, a guaranteed signal that teenage snark was incoming.“Wow dad, you don’t say.”</p><p>Ed cocked an eyebrow as he turned to his son, breaking his attention away from the letter momentarily.“Well, I’m not wrong, am I?”He riposted.<em>You want sass?Well, your old man can play that game.</em></p><p>Raoul snorted.“Guess not.Letters from where though?”</p><p>Ed was still examining the envelope, noting the addresses on it, before flipping it and trying to open the flap.For some reason, the envelope was stretched tight, as though the contents within hardly fit.“Places,” he replied.</p><p>“You don’t know what all this is, do you?” Raoul asked accusingly.He was of course right, but Ed wasn’t about to give his son the satisfaction of confirming it.<em>The last thing he needs is material.He’s got my attitude and Win’s stubborn-as-a-mule mentality.Give him something to go on and he’ll work with it for a week.</em>Ed pried the envelope open, which resulted in a small shower of wilted and crumbling flower petals bursting out, covering the other letters scattered about below it in a dusting of reddish-brown sprinkles.Suddenly, Ed knew exactly what these letters were.He almost wanted to kick himself for forgetting.Instead, however, a more devious idea came to mind, and a sly grin broke across his face.Raoul, meanwhile, was surveying the sprinkling of rose remnants with a look of confusion.</p><p>“Oh, I know exactly what these letters are,” Ed said confidently.Raoul’s expression of bemusement remained.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah.These are love letters . . . one’s that your mom and I sent each other.Back when I was still traveling.”</p><p>“Oh.Yeah.That makes sense.”Raoul didn’t look so interested any more.“Greaaatttt.”</p><p>“Definitely.If I remember correctly, we wrote some very, very, interesting things in them.”Ed drawled the last part of this statement in a way that was unambiguously suggestive, which had the exact effect he had hoped for on his son, who now appeared altogether apprehensive and eager to escape.</p><p>“You know what?”The teen said hastily.“I just remembered.I promised Mr. Stevens that I would help him with, uh, repair a window.Yeah . . . I should really get to that, you know?”</p><p>“You promised your physics teacher that you’d help him repair his window?” Ed asked in amusement, not at all fooled by his son’s abominable attempt at a cover story for his quick departure.</p><p>Raoul twitched his fingers nervously.“Yep.You said it.Some of my friends and I broke it when we were playing . . . tennis!You know how it goes!”</p><p>It was at this point that Ed observed two options before him.On one hand, he could simply let his son off now and allow the teen to make his getaway, probably straight into the arms of the girl he had been seeing, whose existence the boy probably assumed was a fact unknown to his parents.On the other hand, Ed could antagonize his son a bit more before he let the at-times miscreant teen make good his flight.It wasn’t exactly a difficult decision in the end.“So, you’re saying you broke someone else’s window?While you were playing tennis?”</p><p>Raoul chucked anxiously.“Hahaha, yep, couldn’t have put it better myself!”</p><p>“And you didn’t tell either myself or your mother about it at all?”</p><p>“Well you know. . . it just didn’t come up.There was just never a good time to introduce the topic. . .”Raoul scratched the back of his head, backpedaling frantically.</p><p>“Uh huh.I’m sure.”Ed faked a sigh before continuing.“Alright.Well, I suppose you should take care of that sooner rather than later.Good luck.”</p><p>“Thanks dad, will do,” Raoul said hurriedly, already scrambling to his feet and making for the door.“I’ll keep helping with the cleaning when I get back.”With that, he dashed out the door and was gone.Ed rolled his eyes and chortled to himself.<em>That kid is something else sometimes.</em></p><p>He began to pick up the letters strewn about, collecting them back into the box, and proceeding to right it once again and hoist it up.A new idea had arrived in his mind.Sometimes there were upsides to spring cleaning, especially when it helped you find things you had forgotten.He wasn’t going to tell his wife that he had to see that though, considering she was the one who demanded they try straightening up the house and moving more stuff up into the attic.He didn’t want to let her know that he agreed with her points, despite the fact that this was already abundantly clear from the fact that was actually cleaning out the house.He supposed he was stubborn like that. </p><p>Box in hand, he made for the door, feeling as though he had some reading to do.He was looking forward to sharing his ‘rediscovery’ with his wife when she got back from the shop later on.</p><p> </p><p>_____________________________________________________________________________</p><p> </p><p>Ed was sitting at the dining room table, a pile of letters next to him when he heard the door opening.He grinned.He glanced down at the box by his chair, and decided that he would have to be satisfied with the current collection of letters he had “curated.”He thought it was a pretty good selection, if he did say so himself.Which, to be fair, he did.He scrambled up and popped his head out into the hallway in time to see Winry entering the house.He ducked back out of sight quickly, but not quickly enough, apparently.</p><p>“Edward Elric, what are you doing?”Winry asked, skeptically.She knew her husband well enough to know that the brief glimpse she had caught of his face had mischief written all over it.He was beaming as though he was doing his best to imitate a cherubim.The unrestrained grin instead made him more closely resemble an imp who was about to play a trick on an unsuspecting victim.And she wasn’t about to be that victim.</p><p><em>Damn.She’s good.Time to play it smooth.Reaallll smooth.</em>Ed sunk back into his chair casually, taking a sip from his glass and doing his best to look as though he was totally innocent, and most certainly not up to any sort of devious scheming.Winry strode into the dining room, looking around curiously, and more than a little critically.</p><p>“So . . . do I even want to bother asking what happened to, and I quote, ‘getting our wannabe juvenile delinquent to help me clean out the study,’ or will I regret it if I do?”He turned to find her staring him down with crossed arms and a quizzical eyebrow that for most individual’s would have been a clear sign that she wasn’t in a playing mood.Ed, however, took it as the exact opposite.Partially because he couldn’t resist the urge to give her a hard time, at least once in a while, and partially because he knew that on some level, she loved it.<em>Some people’s love takes the form of sweet nothings and pet names.Our love takes the forms of ill-advised jokes and the occasional threat of eternal pain.Among other things.But oh boy, those other things . . .</em> Ed was trying his best not to smile any wider than he was already smiling.Unfortunately, it was a losing battle, which meant that his attempt at bluffing was probably not his most convincing.</p><p>“Hey Win . . . Raoul had to go help out one of his teachers from school out with a project.Apparently the guy needs part of his roof patched up, and he’s getting a little older, so he asked some of his students if they could give him a hand.So, we cut the cleaning a little short for today.”He had decided not to share the questionable window story with his wife, regardless of whether it was true or not.He knew she wouldn’t be thrilled with their son if she heard that one, and he didn’t feel like dealing with the argument that would probably occur as a result.</p><p>Winry was more than a little dubious of Ed’s explanation.“Our son, helping patch up a roof?Doesn’t exactly sound like the boy I know.Unless, of course, he was getting paid for it.Do you know if he’s getting paid for it?”</p><p><em>Calling my bluff, eh?I see what you’re doing.</em>“Well, as you said yourself, Raoul’s not quite the type to just help his teacher fix his roof out of the goodness of his ever-loving heart.So yeah, I’m going to assume he’s getting paid for it.”</p><p>“You didn’t ask?”She still sounded unconvinced.</p><p>Ed shrugged.“It didn’t really come up, you know?”</p><p>“Riiiiigggghhtt.So, you just let our son waltz on out, presumably to go fix up a roof?What happened to ‘setting him back on track’ and all of that?How do you know he wasn’t just bsing you?”She was fairly intent on calling into question the logic of Ed’s answers.Not that he could blame her.Everything about his demeanor essentially screamed, ‘I’m guilty!’<em>You know, sometimes I wish I was a better liar . . . only sometimes though.</em></p><p>“You know, I decided to just trust him on this one.It sounds to me like he’s doing something pretty decent, even if it is only for the money.He’s not getting into trouble, which is always a positive.You can’t argue with that, can you?”</p><p>Winry shook her head and rolled her eyes, begrudgingly agreeing with him.“Fine,” she acquiesced as she headed over to grab a drink of her own from the pitcher on the counter.“But when he gets back, he better be able to prove he was working on a roof and not out with his friends.Or what’s-her-name.I swear, that boy is worse than you were.”</p><p>Ed swallowed once he was confident that he was out of his wife’s field of vision.<em>It’s not gonna be a fun time for Raoul when he gets back . . . or me, for that matter.Ooops.Who knows though?Maybe this will distract her enough that she forgets.Fingers crossed.Hehe.</em>“You know, I am deeply offended by that statement,” Ed deadpanned.“In our errant child’s defense though, I probably would have been even worse than I was at that age if I hadn’t had stuff to focus all of my emotions and stuff on.You know, like evil conspiracies and avoiding death.Also . . . which what’s-her-name are we talking about here?Just to make sure we’re on the same page.”</p><p>“I suppose you have a point,” Winry grumbled.“And I dunno.What’s-her-name.You know.”</p><p>“You realize that didn’t answer my question at all, right?Just putting that out there.”</p><p>Ed watched as Winry threw up her arms, her back to him as she stood by the counter.“How am I supposed to know?Sometimes I think our son is the reincarnation of Havoc!”</p><p>Ed couldn’t help but giggle at this declaration.“I hate to break it you . . . but I’m pretty sure you have to die before you can be reincarnated.It’s kind of an important step in the process.Just a bit.”</p><p>Winry turned back just enough to fix Ed with an unequivocally annoyed glare.He shrugged innocently in response.“Hey, I’m just saying.”</p><p>“So you’re saying you’re happy that our son wants to be a playboy?”</p><p>“Not at all.But he’ll grow out of it.It’s something kids go through, you know?They want to be free!They want to try it out!”</p><p>“They want to make out with someone different every week?Is that what you’re saying?”</p><p>“Errrrrr. . . yeah, something like that,” Ed replied vaguely.</p><p>Winry struck an akimbo stance and stared straight at Ed.“So then, my dear husband . . . explain to me, how come you never went through a phase like that?”Her tone grew a bit threatening as she continued.“Unless you had some flings I’ve never heard about?And what about Alphonse for that matter?I don’t remember him ever suddenly deciding to start hitting on women left and right.”</p><p>Ed ran a finger through his beard, formulating his reply.“Well . . . in both of our cases, we can go back to the fact that at that age, we were either trying to save the country, find our bodies, or were recovering from both of those pursuits.In my case, I guess I just never got around to it.By the time I had enough free time to care about anything like that, I knew you were the only one I ever wanted in my life.”Winry’s cheeks reddened a bit as he finished this statements.“In Al’s case, he was either a suit of armor, getting used to not being a suit of armor, or in Xing.And let’s be fair here, we still don’t know everything that happened in Xing.I’m sure Al has a story or two even we haven’t heard.And we’d never know if he did.So, therefor, your argument is invalid.”</p><p>“Invalid, huh?”Her eyes narrowed, a gesture which was somehow simultaneously mildly threatening and seriously gorgeous, at least as far as Ed was concerned.</p><p>He flashed a wide, toothy grin, that was as smug as could he could make it.“Yep.Invalid all the way.”</p><p>“I think you’re just trying to defend the fact that you let our ne’er-do-well son off the hook of helping you clean out the study because he told you a convincing story.Is that argument invalid too?”He eyebrow bounced playfully, a challenging glint in your eye.</p><p>“I’ll get back to you on that one,” he said in faux cheerfulness.“Taking into account the length of the research answer, expect to get a response in a month or so.”</p><p>“Uh huh,” she said, strangely satisfied by this answer.“That’s what I thought.Remind me again why Mustang roped you into being an ambassador after you left the military?Seems to me like he could have chosen a someone with better conversational skills.Like a wooden crate or a wagon wheel.”</p><p>Ed assumed a wry pout.“You’re just jealous of my illustrious career in diplomacy.”</p><p>Winry chuckled as she strolled back over to sit down across from him.“Illustrious?More like ignominious!”</p><p>“Hey!” Ed protested humorously.“I resent that characterization!”</p><p>“I’m sure you do,” Winry responded with a teasing smile.“Anyway, what are you doing now that you escaped cleaning alongside our son.Because don’t think I haven’t figured out that was a contributing factor in why you let him get out of it.”</p><p>Ed rolled his eyes, but decided it was in his best interest not to address this, considering he couldn’t think of a good comeback to it, and it was more than a little true.“I’m just looking over some papers from my diplomat days that I found while I was clearing off one of the bookcases in there,” he replied obscurely.</p><p>Winry’s interest appeared to be at least slightly aroused by this.“Oh?What kind of papers?”</p><p>“Just some of the communications I received,” he answered, still trying to remain at least somewhat evasive.He wanted to drag her interest out far enough that he could really pull her into the ‘trap’ he had created.</p><p>“Sounds like thrilling stuff,” she commented dryly.That wasn’t quite the reaction he wanted.He decided to spice things up a bit.</p><p>“I dunno, some of these communications are actually quite fascinating.I think I forgot just how intriguing politics can be sometimes.When you’re not too busy hating them, that is.”</p><p>Winry’s brow creased.“Ed, you are a walking contradiction sometimes.”</p><p>“Just from time to time,” he said dismissively.“I don’t make a habit of it.But anyway, some of the stuff in here is actually pretty interesting.”</p><p>“Really?”Winry seemed as though she was mildly suspicious of Ed’s reiteration that the content was worth reading.</p><p>“Yeah.I mean it.Want me to read you off an excerpt?”</p><p>“Sure,” Winry responded doubtfully.“Why not?”</p><p>“Alright.Let me find one of the best ones.”He flipped through several of the opened letters, making a show out of apparently searching for a good choice, even though he had known precisely which one he wanted to read to Winry from the moment she entered the room.It was a particularly entertaining letter, one which was altogether an anomaly, even among the numerous epistles which he had recently rediscovered and perused enthusiastically through the afternoon.The minute he had begun to reread this particularly letter, the memories of its initial opening had resurfaced in his mind.This letter was roughly sixteen or seventeen years old, he suspected.He knew that it couldn’t have been sent too long before he retired from his relatively short-lived career in diplomacy.Which meant it was shortly before they discovered Winry was pregnant with Raoul.Which meant . . . well, nothing necessarily.But Ed always had a nagging suspicion that her pregnancy was partially a result of some of the things she had said in the letter.Not that they were out of character for her or anything like that . . . <em>Nope, not at all all.Definitely not . . .</em></p><p>“You alright there?”Winry asked impatiently, looking at Ed with an expression that might as well have shout “<em>get on with it!”</em></p><p>“Yeah, yeah.Just finding my favorite part.”His eyes scrolled down the page, until he pinpointed the exact passage he was interested in.<em>Ah ha.Just the paragraph I’ve been looking for.</em>He admired Winry’s penmanship, the neat and precise cursive considerably more legible than his own, something that Winry had ragged on him about a number of times during their letter writing days.For some mysterious reason, he looked back on those memories fondly.<em>Then again, is it really all that mysterious?After all, her antagonism is oddly endearing . . . </em>When it came down to it, Winry and he weren’t all that different.Or, perhaps more accurately, they had become increasingly similar as they grew together.<em>Spending most of your life loving someone has a weird way of changing you like that.</em></p><p>“You have a favorite part of diplomatic communications?Sounds absolutely thrilling.”Winry’s sarcasm was absolutely evident, and Ed was reminded, as always, that subtlety wasn’t necessarily Winry’s brand of wit.</p><p>“You never know, this could blow your mind,” he replied, sounding rather self-assured.</p><p>“Oooh, what is it?Mustang congratulating you on something?”</p><p>Ed tossed out a little sarcasm of his own.“Ha ha.You’re a riot.But no, it’s something better than that.”</p><p>“Better than that?This I’ve gotta see.”</p><p>“Well, I’m getting to it, if you’ll let me.”He flashed his eyebrows, daring her to challenge that.</p><p>She glared back and took a sip of her iced tea, motioning for him to continue.</p><p>“Alright.”Ed cleared his throat theatrically, and began.“It’s way too cold in Rush Valley right now.I think this is the harshest winter since we’ve been here.The night’s are the worst part.”He noticed that his wife’s brows had furrowed together, as she watched her husband with slowly increasing unease, but he plowed onward.“The bed feels like an ice bath sometimes, no matter how many throws I put on it.It makes me miss you next to me.The feel of your chest pressed up against my back.Your arm draped over me, keeping me close.Your breath on my neck, it’s something I miss everytime you’re gone.Damn, this is sounding stupid.Hell, I don’t even know why I’m writing this.I mean, it’s not like me to get all sentimental.I guess this time has been harder for some reason.I need you back Ed.I need you.Here, with me.I need you to—“</p><p>He was suddenly cut off.“YOU KEPT THAT?!!”He looked up again, to see that Winry’s face was now completely red, and seemingly growing more and more scarlet by the second.She had become the very image of mortification, if he did say so himself.In fact, he almost wished he could capture this exact moment forever, because the look on her face was such a rare one.<em>It’s not everyday that she looks completely dumbfounded.I can’t lie, it’s adorable.Not that I’m going to tell her that.I want to live.</em></p><p>“Oh, I treasured this one.Let me tell you, I can still remember rereading it every night for the rest of the trip.”To be fair, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it had the desired effect.Winry looked as though she had grown even redder, if such a thing was even possible.In fact, at this point, Ed personally thought she was beginning to resemble a tomato.Her appearance had moved from ‘so cute I am serious danger of trying to cuddle you, which would probably get me slightly murdered’ to ‘is it safe for a human to blush that hard?’Ed decided to press his advantage while he had.After all, Winry probably wasn’t going to be utterly flummoxed for long.Ed estimated he had a few more seconds at most before he would need to make a break for it.“I couldn’t get the image out of my head.I’d lie awake in bed, thinking about how you said you wanted me to—“</p><p>Winry’s trance broke in an abrupt screech of sorts, as she lunged across the table, trying to snatch the letter out of his hands.“THAT’S GOING STRAIGHT TO THE FIREPLACE!”Ed jerked the letter of her reach, and leapt to his feet, making a mad dash for the hallway.Winry was after him in a heartbeat, a fuming fire of indignation and embarrassment.</p><p>“I think I’d really like to keep it!For, for research purposes!,”Ed shouted back as he tore down the hallway toward the staircase.</p><p>“I”LL SHOW YOU RESEARCH PURPOSES, YOU PERVERT!MAYBE I”LL THROW YOU IN THE FIREPLACE WITH IT!!”She swiped out as she shot after him, trying to snare the origin of his discomposure to no avail.</p><p>“That’d be pretty hot, but not as hot as you telling me you want me to—“</p><p>“AAHHHHHHHH!!”They bounded up the stairs, Winry hot on Ed’s heels.</p><p>“You know Baby, I had almost forgotten that you were such a good writer.I mean, you were so descriptive in—“</p><p>“I’ll be equally descriptive when I explain how I’m going to chuck you out our bedroom window, pipsqueak!”</p><p>“That’s a low blow, Mail-girl!And I’ve been taller than you for fifteen years now!”</p><p>Reaching the landing, Ed made for their bedroom at the end of the hall with haste.Winry was matching his speed almost exactly, only an instant behind him, a couple of feet at most separating the sprinting couple.</p><p>“If only you had matured with your last growth spurt!Then maybe I’d be married to a man who didn’t act like he was a sixteen year old!”</p><p>Flying through the door, Ed threw himself onto the bed, clasping the letter under him, and letting his body drop around it, effectively becoming a human shield.Winry landed after him, and tried to roll him over, with little luck.She grabbed his sides, yanking hard in an attempt to rotate his body.“Ed, I swear, if you don’t give me that this instant, I’m going to make you think readjusting automail is a walk in the park!”</p><p>“Never!”He responded unwaveringly, although the declaration was somewhat muffled by the fact that his face was currently shoved into the sheets, meaning that what was heard was more of along the lines “neeee-uuhhh,” instead of a comprehensible word.</p><p>Winry maintained her futile attempts, not one to give up easily.“Ed, I don’t care if you use words or not, I’m getting that letter!”</p><p>Ed bent his neck back, extracting his face from the sheets enough for his voice to actually be heard.“What if I make you a deal?”</p><p>Winry paused for moment.“A deal?,” she asked, evidently suspicious.</p><p>“Yep.I give you the letter, and you can keep it and hide it wherever you want, but you can’t destroy it.”</p><p>“Why the hell would I agree to that?That monstrosity needs to be removed from existence!”She resumed her attempts to extract the letter out from under her uncooperative husband.</p><p>“Because,” Ed rejoined, “You could make sure that no one else, including me, ever reads it again.”Winry huffed, apparently not satisfied with this logic.However, she did cease her ‘assault’ once again.Ed continued, “I mean, that’s what you want, right?That’d basically be just as effective as burning it.”He was almost sure that her arms were crossed indignantly at the moment, even though he couldn’t see her to confirm it.</p><p>“Someone else could still find it.The only way to get rid of it, is to get rid of it.”</p><p>“Who else is even going to look for it?”</p><p>“You are!”</p><p>Ed rolled his eyes.“I promise, cross my heart, I won’t try to look for it.”</p><p>“Really?”Winry sounded like she thought this promise was highly questionable.</p><p>“Really.You have my word.”</p><p>“Hmmm . . .”</p><p>“Can I roll back over now?”</p><p>“Fine,” Winry grumbled, her irritation diminishing.</p><p>Ed flipped over onto his back, still firmly grasping the letter.Winry eyed it distrustfully, as though it was about to jump out of his hands and bite her.“Why do you even want to keep it around so much?,”She asked in an annoyed tone.“If you won’t be able to see it, why does it matter?”</p><p>Ed shrugged.“Call me sentimental, I guess.I mean, this letter’s special.None of the other ones we ever sent are anything like it.”</p><p>Winry sighed.“Yeah.I can’t believe I sent that.”She rested her head into her palm, her anger dissipating further.</p><p>“I mean, neither could I.Honestly, I thought you had to have been drunk or something when you wrote it, back when I first read it.”</p><p>Winry shook her head.“Is that meant to be a question?”</p><p>“Nope.Just an observation.”</p><p>Winry raised an eyebrow.“A woman’s not allowed to just miss her lover, is that what you’re implying?”</p><p>Ed shook his head quickly.“Nope.But you know, it was unexpected.In a good way.”</p><p>This made Winry’s blush deepen once again.Without warning, she pried her hand away from her face, and looked at Ed with a newfound determination glowing in her eyes.“Alright.I’ll agree to your stupid deal.But I have one caveat.”</p><p>Ed tilted his head.“What’s that?”</p><p>“You do exactly what I wanted you to do in the letter.Right now.”</p><p>This elicited a rapidly-exploding blush from Ed.In moments, both partners were as crimson as the other.“I mean . . . that’s fine by me.But do you even remember what you wrote in there?It was years ago, after all," he remarked playfully, trying to offset the temporary embarrassment.</p><p>Winry began to grin mischievously, a strikingly unusual expression for her face, and yet one that Ed wouldn’t dream of complaining about seeing.She took a step toward him.“Oh, I remember.”  She suddenly didn't look so shy any more.  Ed found himself grinning as well.</p><p>Ed’s last thought before things got a lot more interesting was roughly along the lines of “<em>and Havoc said life was boring once you hit thirty-five.”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feel free to leave a comment if you made it all the way through.  I always appreciate feedback.</p><p>Several more FMA ficlets, of both the Royai and Edwin varieties, are in the works, so keep an eye out for them sometime (relatively) soon.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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